Shell wants to have more than 500,000 charging stations for electric cars in its Shell Recharge network by 2025. Right now, the network has 140,000 charge points around the world. The oil company finished buying the Volta charging network in 31 states in the United States last week. Shell now owns and runs one of the most extensive public charging networks for electric vehicles (E.V.sE.V.s) in the United States. Shell bought Volta for $169 million in cash. Shell expects to make a profit of $40 billion in 2022. Since E.V.sE.V.s haven’t taken over, oil companies want to be there whether you fill your car with gas or electrons. This week, Shell U.S.A. was able to finish buying Volta. This electric vehicle charging network company specializes in advertising screens next to charging plugs at places with a lot of traffic, like stores and stadiums. Volta plans to add more paid D.C.D.C. stations, but commercials pay for most charges. Fast-charge outlets. As of late last year, Volta said that its network of more than 3000 charging stations in the United States had more than 5700 of these “out-of-home screens.” Volta works in 31 U.S.U.S. states and territories and gives electric vehicles about 112,000 charging sessions each month. In January, Volta and Shell said they would buy a company for $169 million. This means that each share is worth 86 cents. This purchase price was much lower than the stock’s high of $15 at the beginning of 2021 and the $2.50 per share Volta was trading in the middle of 2022 before its September-October dip. Even though Volta’s value was already going down, the market saw the January statement as bad news. This caused the deal of other E.V.E.N. charging companies’ stocks to drop temporarily. On top of the $169 million cash payment for Volta, Shell paid $11 million in debts to other people. Shell also gave Volta $20 million in subordinated secured term loans “to keep Volta’s balance sheet in good shape and get it through to the end of the transaction.” Shell has money. . . Shell had no financial problems when it bought Volta because it sold more oil last year than at any other time in its long history. In 2022, the company made $40 billion in profits. This was partly because Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove up the price of oil and gas, which helped the company make money. The C.E.O. of the company was paid about $12 million last year. With this small purchase of Volta, Shell will not be able to compete in the E.V.E. charging market. Volta’s charging stations will be added to the Shell Recharge network, which already has charging stations for electric vehicles. In the United States right now. Most of California doesn’t have Shell Recharge. Because Shell bought Volta, it now owns and runs “one of the largest public electric vehicles (E.V.E.V.) charging networks in the United States.” Shell, a big energy company, runs over 140,000 public and private charge sites worldwide. By 2025, it wants to have more than 500,000 charge points worldwide. Even more difficult targets include installing 2.5 million charge points by 2030.
